(Health Korea News / Do-i Lim) The beauty industry is seeking a breakthrough by expanding its sales channels to the West to replace the struggling Chinese market. According to recent trade statistics from the Korea Customs Service, exports to China fell 14.1% year-on-year. This is a result that is in contrast to the record-breaking figure of domestic cosmetics exports in the first half of this year, which reached $4.82 billion (KRW 6.7 trillion), up 18.1% year-on-year.
The countries that have emerged as alternatives to China are the Western world, including the US and Europe. According to the Korea International Trade Association, last year, our country’s cosmetics exports to the US recorded remarkable results, reaching $1.23 billion, up 44.3% from the previous year. Recently, indie brands that are leading the K-beauty market are turning their attention to the West, including the US, and are accelerating their conquest of North America. Representative examples include Skin1004, TirTir, Cosrx, and Manyo Factory.
Skin1004, Tirtir, Cosrx, Witch Factory, etc.
Skin1004, which promotes raw material-based skincare, has secured stable sales early on and is leading the K-beauty craze in the US thanks to its preemptive entry into the Western market including the US. In the first quarter of this year, the Western region including North America and Europe recorded 51.52% of sales, the highest ever. The sales ratio in April and May of this year also exceeded the Southeast Asia ratio by a long time, reaching 47.7%.
A representative product that is particularly popular in the West is the ‘Madagascar Centella Hyalu-Cica Water Fit Sun Serum’. The moist yet light texture and non-sticky finish hit the mark on the needs of Western consumers. It is leading to tangible results, such as being confirmed to be available in 650 stores of ULTA, one of the most influential beauty retailers in the US.
In June, it was selected as the best Korean sunscreen at the ‘Grooming Awards’ hosted by the American lifestyle magazine ‘Men’s Journal’. It has also been receiving favorable reviews, including being named in the best sunscreen category by various magazines such as Glamour and Fashion Vince, as well as CNN Underscored, a product review media outlet of the American CNN.
A Skin1004 official said, “The sunscreen launching event held at the K-beauty specialty store ‘Pure Seoul’ in London in June was attended by famous local influencers including ‘Glow by Ramon,’” and “They conducted a blind test of the products, and it received a lot of attention, recording 100,000 views through about 100 contents.” Skin1004 plans to secure growth momentum by strengthening its competitiveness based on the rapid increase in sales in the West.
TIRTIR is a representative brand that presents color products in the K-beauty market centered on skincare. After ranking first in the Amazon foundation category in April, it rose to first place in the entire beauty category in June, heralding the K-color craze.
TirTir’s strategy for the Western market is diversity. Until now, it has been difficult for Asian brands to enter color cosmetics because they have to consider the skin type and color tone of each race. TirTir took note of this and significantly expanded the cushion shades to a total of 30 to cover various skin tones. TirTir, which gained recognition through collaborations with black American beauty YouTubers, is said to have been able to elicit a response from multi-racial Western consumers with a product lineup for various skin tones.
Cosrx, which began exporting to the US in 2015, currently generates more than half of its total sales from North America. In June, it participated in the ‘2024 ULTA Beauty Field Leadership Conference’ (ULTA FLC) hosted by ULTA, strengthening its position. In March, its flagship product, ‘Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Cleanser’, ranked 2nd in the ULTA Beauty K-beauty category top 7, drawing attention.
The reason for Cosrx’s popularity is its cost-effectiveness. In particular, the cleanser is not burdensome at around $25, and it is evaluated as having good performance for the price, including skin-soothing effects due to the snail mucus filtrate. Cosrx entered Costco’s offline stores in the US in March, and plans to accelerate its conquest of the US market by confirming its presence in approximately 75% of all stores by the third quarter.
Witch Factory is also growing in size by expanding its overseas business, starting with the US. In the case of the best-selling ‘Pure Cleansing Oil’, sales in the US market increased by 169% last year, showing a steep increase. The product, which was first exported to the US last year, became famous by word of mouth for its excellent cleansing and moisturizing power, and was sold mainly through Amazon and Costco’s online mall. Starting in July of this year, it will be newly introduced to about 300 Costco offline stores across the US and will maximize sales with the ‘Pure Cleansing Oil Duo Set’.
In the same month, it will also enter 470 Ulta stores across the United States to strengthen its touchpoints with American consumers. In addition to the best-selling cleansing oil, it will also diversify its product line, including the Bifida Biome Complex Ampoule. Based on its performance on Amazon, Manyo Factory is diversifying its sales ratio, which was previously concentrated in Japan, to North America, including the United States, to secure a stable sales flow.
An industry insider said, “Thanks to the popularity of K-culture, the growth of K-beauty has been accelerating in the West, especially in North America and Europe,” and predicted, “If the first and second generations of K-beauty were centered around China, the third generation of K-beauty, led by indie brands, will show strength in the Western market.”
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